HUME DAZZLES IN ATK’S WIN OVER KERALA

ISL has been successfully drawing people to the football grounds once again.A crowd of about 61000 plus people was present last night,mostly in Red and White jerseys to support their home team Atletico de Kolkata at the YBK stadium.Even though Habas’s team had many of their important players(including their marquee Helder Postiga) missing,the real hero of the match was former Kerala Blaster player Iain Hume.Hume ended the night without scoring a goal,but he assisted in both the goals.In spite of playing as the lone striker he took immense workload to fall back to midfield to cover up for his teammates. In spite of being injured,Arata Izumi played amazingly along with captain Borja Fernandez and Javi Lara.Arata scored in the 7th min to give Kolkata an early 1-0 lead. Later Javi Lara’s goal was simply a treat to the eyes.Peter Taylor’s Kerala side looked lacklustre for most of the match ,specially after conceding an early goal, while playing with 3 center backs. Sanchez Watt and Chris Dagnall were barely noticeable until C.K.Vineeth won a header and Dagnall scored from it. This brought the game back into life. Watt and Dagnall created a couple of chances but found agile Calatayud in the Kolkata goal.The tempo of Kerala’s fightback was soon lost when their vibrant midfielder Mehtab Hossain received marching orders.The game was all but over for the Blasters then.With this win,ATK moved to the top of the table much to the joy of the home crowd present in YBK and Kerala Blasters FC is at the moment in the 3rd position after 3rd round of the tournament.
When a team plays on natural ground,it gets better space and creativity for its game. YBK’s natural turf saw 7 goals in two matches (including Derby).Hope Indian Football Association will take proper care to check the quality and maintenance of the ground so as to give best results,just like in this match.